House Republicans narrowly reject effort to end Trump’s war with Iran |
House Republicans narrowly reject effort to end Trump’s war with Iran
House Republicans on Thursday defeated legislation designed to end the Iran War, marking a win for President Trump and another setback for the constitutional purists fighting to reaffirm Congress’s unique powers to use military force overseas.
The vote was 213 to 214, with one Republican — Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) — bucking GOP leaders to support the resolution. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), joined most Republicans in opposing it. Republican Rep. Warren Davidson (Ohio) voted present.
The practical effects of the vote are negligible. Even if the resolution had passed, the Senate has failed on multiple occasions to adopt a similar measure. The most recent of those votes came on Wednesday, when the upper chamber easily beat back a Democratic war powers resolution by a tally of 47 to 52, largely on partisan lines.
Still, the failure of the House bill also sends the political message that both chambers of Congress — by failing to rein in Trump’s unilateral powers to conduct war with Tehran — have endorsed his authority to do so.
Heading into the vote, Democrats thought they might have convinced enough Republicans to join their side. They staged the vote in part to pressure those “on the fence” GOP lawmakers to approve the measure. Their failure to peel off those Republicans reflects the outsized........